Want to reduce your waste in the kitchen? Save your blanching water! Your plants will thank you for that drink of nutrient rich liquid!
I finally found the time to make a batch of pickled asparagus tonight. It was my first attempt at pickling and it was satisfyingly easy. I’ll write up the details tomorrow. However, there’s one little tip I wanted to share with you all.
You see, the particular recipe I followed called for the asparagus to be blanched for just ten seconds prior to being packed into the jars. After I retrieved all the asparagus bits from the pot of water, I set aside the now bright green blanching water and poured it into a pitcher to cool down. Tomorrow, when it’s room temperature, I’ll water my houseplants with it, giving them a hit of the nutrients that transferred from the asparagus into the water.
As we all move forward into the heart of the pickling and canning season, this is a great way to reuse that vitamin-rich water (you can also do this when you steam/blanch veggies for dinner).
And if you want to reserve those nutrients for yourself, this water can also become the base of a batch of soup or smoothie. Just keep in in the fridge to ensure that it doesn’t get funky before you have a chance to use it.
Have you ever tried to save your blanching water? I’d love to hear in the comments how you like to put that water to good use!
Thank you much for your not wasting nutrient rich water- how to save it and use so that plants gain and humans gain from it. Before I didn’t know what to do with this valuable nutrient filled water. Much appreciated.
Glad to help!
What a great idea! Too bad I didn’t see this post before I, in a rush for counter space after an awesome Mother’s Day Brunch, dumped the pot down the sink!
if it soup making season, use the blanching water instead of stock or water when making soup – as long as the flavors are compatible of course….
That’s another good use for blanching water, especially if you plan on making asparagus soup from all the ends that get cut off after pickling. -Marisa
If you have a yard and a garden, you can do this on a larger scale than I’m able to do it my apartment. Keep a bucket in the kitchen and use it to gather all your cooking/rinsing water. The veggies benefit and you conserve water.
What a terrific tip! Thanks.
I love that idea! Perhaps this’ll be enough of a “good deed” for the plants that I’ll stop having nightmares that I’ve sentenced my garden to a slow and painful death…